February 18/13 13:07 pm - UCI Adds 19th ProTeam

The UCI has responded to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision to put Katusha back in the first division for the WorldTour by adding Katusha to the already announced list of 18 ProTeams.

The UCI today announced that exceptionally there are 19 registered UCI ProTeams in the 2013 season. The decision comes further to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling of 15 February 2013 which upheld the application of Katusha Management SA to be registered as a UCI ProTeam for the season 2013.

The decision to have 19 as opposed to 18 Teams was taken by the Professional Cycling Council today.

There is no word on how this will affect races such as the Giro d'Italia, which has already announced the four wildcard teams that will compete in this year's race in addition to the previously selected ProTeams - Katusha was not selected for a wildcard, so now the Giro organizer has to either add a 23rd team (Katusha), or drop one of the wildcards (which they previously stated they would not do).